Tesla Invests $6.4m in New Plant in China to Build Electric Car Chargers: Report

Tesla Inc will start producing electric vehicle (EV) chargers in China next year, according to a Reuters report. 

The US carmaker on Thursday said it plans to invest 42 million yuan ($6.4 million) in a new factory to manufacture its third generation of quick chargers, known as the Supercharger V3, reported Reuters, citing documents submitted to Shanghai authorities. 

The new plant, which will be located near its Gigafactory in Shanghai, will have the capacity to produce 10,000 chargers every year. 

Tesla aims to complete the plant in the first quarter next year, the report said. Currently, EV chargers are imported from the US. 

The new factory will help expand China’s current network of 490 supercharging stations in more than 250 cities. 

Tesla also plans to deliver its Model Y sport utility vehicles in 2021 and, according to Shangguan News, the company will further establish a new R&D centre in its Gigafactory to focus on vehicle development, renewable products and charging equipment in order to improve the company’s localization strategy in the world’s biggest car market. 

Its Gigafactory, with an investment of more than 50 billion yuan (US$7.6 billion), is both the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in Shanghai’s history and Tesla’s first plant outside the United States.

Pandaily has reached out to Tesla’s Shanghai office for comment.

Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) — a category which includes Tesla’s battery-powered cars — continue to be strong in China, where the government aims to shift away entirely from petrol and diesel cars.

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Last month, sales of Tesla’s domestically-built Model 3 reached 12,143 units, while the Hongguang Mini, made by a General Motors joint venture, scored a record 20,631 sales in October, a new record for a single model in China.